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A huge rescue operation has managed
to save more than 368 people including hundreds of terrified high school
children from a sinking South Korean passenger ferry after half the
ship began dangerously submerging into the sea on Wednesday.At
least two people - an employee of the boat company and a student - were
killed and 14 passengers were injured as the ship sank, officials
confirmed.Dozens of boats,
helicopters and divers scrambled to rescue more than 470 people were
were aboard the 6,825-ton ferry in what emergency services are calling
the country's biggest peacetime disaster in 20 years.Officials
claim 164 people have been rescued so far, but the South Korean Coast
Guard fear the number of casualties could rise as they continue to drag
passengers out of the water and try to locate people who are still
trapped inside.The
ferry was sailing to the southern island of Jeju when it sent a distress
call Wednesday morning after it began leaning to one side, according to
the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. Coast
guard footage showed the vessel submerged with only its bow visible 12
miles from Byeongpoong island off the southwest corner of the Korean
peninsula. The government said about 95 percent of the ship was
submerged.

Terrifying: The South Korean ferry dangerously
listed to one side while on its way to Jeju island about 100km south of
the Korean peninsula

Helicopters approach the ferry to help rescue
the 476 passengers and crew after the vessel sank on on its way to Jeju
island in South Korea

Drama: Members of the South Korea Coast Guard rescue passengers and crew as the ferry lists perilously to one side

+43

Doomed: The ferry was sailing to the island of
Jeju when it sent a distress call on Wednesday after it began leaning to
one side, according to the Ministry of Security and Public
Administration

The Ministry of Security and Public Administration named 27-year-old woman Park
Ji-yeong, a female employee of the boat operator and high school student Jeong Cha Woong as the victims, according to Bloomberg.As
well the passengers, there were 150 vehicles on board the ferry Sewol,
officials said. Witnesses said many people were likely still inside the
vessel.An official from
the Danwon High School in Ansan, a Seoul suburb, had earlier said all of
its 338 students and teachers had been rescued but that could not be
confirmed by the coastguard, who lowered the figure as the search effort
continued.The cause
of the disaster was not immediately clear although some survivors
reported that the ship appeared to have been involved in some sort of
impact.'It was fine
then the ship went 'boom' and there was a noise of cargo falling,' said
Cha Eun-ok, who said she was on deck of the ferry taking photographs
when the disaster began.'The
on-board announcement told people to stay put ... people who stayed are
trapped,' she said in Jindo, the nearest town from the scene of the
accident.A member of the
crew of a government ship involved in the rescue, who said he had spoken
to members of the sunken ferry's crew, said the area was free of reefs
or rocks and the cause was likely some sort of malfunction on the
vessel.

A total of 16 helicopters, 34 rescue vessels and
navy divers were sent to the area, a vice minister for South Korea's
Public Administration and Security Ministry, told a news conference